Industry News

Hull City to close part of stadium as controversial membership scheme continues

Hull City will close part of the KCOM Stadium next season as the English Premier League football club continues to suffer from low attendances since introducing a controversial membership scheme at the start of the current campaign.

The scheme offers a fixed price for all supporters and does not offer concessions for children, senior citizens or disabled fans.

Attendances at the 25,000-capacity KCOM Stadium have been low since owners the Allam family introduced the scheme, with some fans opting to stay away in protest over the running of the club.

Attendances this season have regularly dipped below the 20,000 mark despite the KCOM Stadium playing host to top-flight football, and the club has now confirmed that the West Stand Upper area of the stadium will be closed completely from next season.

As a result, Zone 1 of the stadium has been expanded to cover all available seats in the North and South Stands. A membership in this zone will cost £21 (€25/$26) a month for all fans.

Zone 2 will cover three corners of the stadium and will cost £27 a month for all fans. Zone 3 will cover the majority of the East Stand and sections of the West Stand, and will cost £39 per month, again for all fans.

Hull is currently bidding to stay in the Premier League and the club sits 18th in the table, one point from safety. The club is managed by Marco Silva, whose first home game in charge – an FA Cup match against Swansea City in January – was watched by a crowd of just 6,608 as fans stayed away in protest.

Earlier today (Monday), the Hull City Supporters’ Trust said in a statement that it was “disappointed yet unsurprised” by the latest version of the membership scheme.

The Trust said it would write to the Premier League this week to seek clarification on whether or not the club’s arrangements for next season have been approved.

The statement added: “We will also be continuing to try to arrange a meeting with the club. It was hoped that issues like this could be discussed at the Fans Forum which was due to be set up by the club by the end of January – unsurprisingly this has not been forthcoming.

“It is clear the club has missed yet another opportunity to give the team and manager Marco Silva the support they deserve. The aim should be to fill seats by offering affordable tickets to all fans, including concessions to those that need them, not to take tickets off sale, close areas of the ground and alienate your own supporters.”